Page 270 - jane-eyre

‘I will tell you in your private ear,’ replied she, wagging
her turban three times with portentous significancy.
‘But my curiosity will be past its appetite; it craves food
now.’
‘Ask Blanche; she is nearer you than I.’
‘Oh, don’t refer him to me, mama! I have just one word
to say of the whole tribe; they are a nuisance. Not that I
ever suffered much from them; I took care to turn the ta-
bles. What tricks Theodore and I used to play on our Miss
Wilsons, and Mrs. Greys, and Madame Jouberts! Mary was
always too sleepy to join in a plot with spirit. The best fun
was with Madame Joubert: Miss Wilson was a poor sickly
thing, lachrymose and low-spirited, not worth the trouble
of vanquishing, in short; and Mrs. Grey was coarse and
insensible; no blow took effect on her. But poor Madame
Joubert! I see her yet in her raging passions, when we had
driven her to extremities—spilt our tea, crumbled our bread
and butter, tossed our books up to the ceiling, and played a
charivari with the ruler and desk, the fender and fire-irons.
Theodore, do you remember those merry days?’
‘Yaas, to be sure I do,’ drawled Lord Ingram; ‘and the
poor old stick used to cry out ‘Oh you villains childs!’—and
then we sermonised her on the presumption of attempting
to teach such clever blades as we were, when she was herself
so ignorant.’
‘We did; and, Tedo, you know, I helped you in prosecut-
ing (or persecuting) your tutor, whey-faced Mr. Vining—the
parson in the pip, as we used to call him. He and Miss Wil-
son took the liberty of falling in love with each other—at